Saturday, May 4, 2013

Migration Hot Spots

Tonight it looks like two areas of the country are having big movements of birds. The first is the expected location of south Texas. The southern tip of the state looks busy tonight.
 Lots of birds moving across the Rio Grande on their way to the nesting grounds. Further north it looks like Wisconsin is the winner in the Great Lakes region. We've had some rather bizarre weather the last 3 days with some parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin seeing 14+ inches of snow. Things are beginning to shift with temps. returning to "normal" by mid-week. There will be heavy runoff of melt water and this will result in both flood potential in localized areas but also will mean lots of agricultural fields with standing water for a while. Shorebirds may find plenty of habitat as they go north but may be so spread out that they will be hard to find.
Biggest movement in Wisconsin right now is along a line from about LaCrosse to Green Bay. Hard to say where these birds will put down in the morning but they may find snow drifts instead of open fields. Many lakes still have ice cover. The life of a migrating birds certainly isn't easy!

Keep the feeders full and your eyes open. No telling what might show up in these conditions. There is a Lazuli Bunting coming to a feeder in the eastern suburbs of St. Paul, MN. Boy it that bird in for a surprise...

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